MILAN, Italy — With a roster full of NHL players, Sweden was in danger of the earliest possible exit at the Olympics. Instead, it’s moving on to face the U.S. in the quarterfinals.
Adrian Kempe and Gabriel Landeskog scored in the first period, Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves and Sweden beat Latvia 5-1 in the qualification round on Tuesday.
With all the pressure on — and the possibility looming of being on the NHL player-filled first plane back to North America — the Swedes endured a nervous first 10 minutes before Kempe got them on the board. Landeskog scored 41 seconds later to relieve some of the tension.
Filip Forsberg scored in the second, and Mika Zibanejad and William Nylander added insurance goals in the third. Lucas Raymond, who has been Sweden’s best player minus a costly penalty, had three primary assists.
Sweden has won three of its four games in Milan and is a formidable opponent Wednesday for the unbeaten second-seeded Americans to begin the single-elimination knockout round.
“They’re one of the powerhouses in the world,” U.S. winger Matthew Tkachuk said. “They’ve been playing really well this tournament in some games.
Markstrom has emerged as Sweden’s starting goaltender after the Wild’s Filip Gustavsson started the tournament in that role. It’s entirely possible Markstrom plays on back-to-back nights, a rarity in the NHL
Czechia 3, Denmark 2
David Kampf and Roman Cervenka scored 69 seconds apart in the second period and Czechia beat Denmark to advance to a quarterfinal showdown against Canada.
Czechia gets a second shot at the tournament favorite after losing to Canada 5-0 last week in their opener. They play on Wednesday.
Martin Necas also scored for the Czechs in a busy second period when the Colorado Avalanche forward one-timed a slap shot past goalie Frederik Andersen on a power play to open the scoring.
Denmark tied it at 1-1 on Alexander True’s goal at 29:02, but Kampf quickly put the Czechs back in front and Cervenka’s goal 69 seconds later made it 3-1. The 40-year-old Cervenka snapped a wrist shot into the top corner over Andersen’s glove.
Nick Olesen’s power-play goal closed the gap before the end of the second.
The Czechs killed off two third period penalties, and goalie Lukas Dostal saved two shots from Oliver Bjorkstrand with less than 25 second left.
“We knew it’s going to be a challenge, and it was,” Czechia winger Ondrej Palat said. “They’re a hard team to play against. They don’t give you much. We won, so big win for us. Joy and relief.”
Germany 5, France 1
Leon Draisaitl and JJ Peterka scored in a three-goal first period and Germany set up a quarterfinal game against Slovakia.
Frederik Tiffels added another when he scored unassisted from a tight angle by snapping a shot off the right side of Julian Junca’s mask and into the net in a dominant opening period for the Germans.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare had given away the puck on Tiffels’ goal but the France captain scored in the second period by throwing the puck into the crease, where it hit defenseman Moritz Muller and got past goalie Philipp Grubauer.
Joshua Samanski scored a power-play goal in the third and Nico Sturm added an empty-netter for Germany.
Switzerland 3, Italy 0
Switzerland beat, outshooting the host country 51-20.
New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier had a goal and two assists. Philipp Kurashev and Roman Josi had the other Swiss goals.
Switzerland next faces Finland.
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